1

HAVERFORD

C O L L E G E

Department of Philosophy

The Evolutionary Significance of

Rupert Sheldrake’s Science Set Free

The Science Delusion

Ashok Gangadean

Margaret Gest Professor of Global Philosophy

With the recent appearance of his latest book, Science Set Free, I invited Rupert Sheldrake to return to our Global Philosophy Forum here at Haverford College to give a keynote presentation in celebration of his book and his pioneering lifework. Our ((Forum)), which focuses on Making Sense of our Evolutionary Shift: Science and Philosophy in Quest of the Unified Field, has been continuous for over fifteen years bringing leading voices at this frontier of inquiry to public conversation. Rupert’s earlier visit in 2005 was a stunning success and his recent presentation of Science Set Free built on his earlier visit and ignited dialogue at an even deeper level.

In the wake of our Forum event certain insights concerning the evolutionary significance of Science Set Free came into focus and I feel moved to reflect on this now.

First, it is clear that this latest book builds on his earlier important works and is an integral outgrowth of his lifework which dilates the space of open scientific inquiry into a range of phenomena. The heart of Science Set Free focuses on bringing to light that the predominant “scientific worldview” is lodged in dogmatism, ideology and uncritically held assumptions. He says in his Introduction, “In this book, I argue that science is being held back by centuries-old assumptions that have hardened into dogmas. The sciences would be better off without them: freer, more interesting and more fun”.

He continues, “Contemporary science is based on the claim that all reality is material or physical. There is no reality but material reality. Consciousness is a by-product of the physical activity of the brain. Matter is unconscious. Evolution is purposeless…” Sheldrake brings to light that the worldview of scientific materialism is a “scientific creed” and he suggests that “the belief system that governs conventional scientific thinking is an act of faith, grounded in a nineteenth century ideology”. He rightly affirms that science is not a “belief system” but a long evolving method of rational inquiry that flows with open minded critical thinking beyond dogmatic beliefs or creeds. In this respect Sheldrake’s life in science is passionate about rigorously advancing scientific inquiry beyond dogma and ideology. He says, “This book is pro-science. I want the sciences to be less dogmatic and more scientific. I believe that the sciences will be regenerated when they are liberated from the dogmas that constrict them”.

I couldn’t agree more with Sheldrake’s evolutionary insight into the advancement of our scientific enterprise. What we value most in the breakthrough of scientific method is this very Rational Ethos of open minded critical inquiry that is not stifled by dogma and ideology. In making a decisive case that the dominant culture of scientific practice is fixated on a particular “worldview” and “belief system”- “scientific materialism” – and lodged in ideology and uncritically held dogmas that block, stifle, repress and compromise open scientific inquiry into Reality he takes a clear step towards liberating scientific literacy and setting science free.

And since in our current cultural attitudes “science” is revered as, perhaps, the foremost method of open inquiry and critical thinking in our common quest for Knowledge and Truth it is, indeed, a stunning disclosure to realize that the dominant culture of science labors under the sway of ideology and dogma. If this be so, what does this say about the rational quality of our cultural life in general and across the board?

Could it be that our cultural life in general – personal, inter-personal, religious, political, educational… – is likewise lodged in dogma, ideology and uncritical thinking? What is “dogma”? What is “ideology”? What makes any enterprise (scientific, political, religious, educational…) dogmatic, ideological, closed minded prejudiced, uncritical, egomental…? It is my judgment, in the light of Global Wisdom, that Sheldrake’s finding about the current state of scientific development exposes a generic symptom that pervades our cultures at large so it is of the utmost importance to pause and take a deeper critical look at the generic source of dogmatic and ideological mental practices.

We shall now see that over the centuries, indeed, over millennia, our rational enterprise has been in an evolutionary maturation beyond dogma and ideology and local tribalism in worldviews. As Reason and Literacy mature our methods and standards of open critical rational inquiry in all aspects of cultural life dilate and upgrade to higher Literacy. In this evolutionary drama it becomes clear in long-range efforts across the planet that Human Reason is essentially global in power and scope, and is beyond ideology, dogma , prejudice, tribal localism, fundamentalism and subjectivism in worldview.

Thus, if our “scientific enterprise” is found to be “monocentric” or “egomental” or “tribal” or “logocentric” in its “rational practices”, in its mental disposition concerning its preferred “worldview”, “paradigm”, “conceptual framework” or “theoretical ideology”…then it, too, would be “infected” with ontological malpractice, mental dysfunction and uncritical tribal “literacy”.

As we now, briefly, reflect on certain astounding disclosures in a hitherto eclipsed global evolutionary drama in the maturation of our rational enterprise it comes into focus that the current dominant culture of “science” is, indeed, lodged in chronic dynamics of ideological and dogmatic mentation.

The Evolutionary Significance of Science Set Free

I’d like to focus now on what for me is the evolutionary significance of Sheldrake’s book and pioneering work in Science.

So let’s step back a moment and reflect on what has come to light in the missing Global Evolutionary Drama of the Emergence of Logos.

The Global Emergence of Logos

In my own evolutionary journey over the past five decades as a Logician (Science of Reason, transformative laws of reason, thought and consciousness), Ontologist (the grammar of reality, world formation, worldviews), Philosopher (explorations of global wisdom across the planet over millennia), Philosopher of Language (the origin and evolutionary emergence of language, and dialogue across and between diverse worlds, communication and evolutionary literacy across cultures and ideologies)…I was led inexorably into an emergent evolutionary drama of the maturation of our human species: of rational life, of literacy and language power, of consciousness capacities, of emergent integral intelligence…. It became clear that we humans have been in the midst of an amazing evolutionary development that could only be encountered through the dilation of our global lens, global reason, global script power and global literacy.

Most of us are not sufficiently aware that throughout our lives we develop a “personal cultural lens” of the mind that both conditions and allows our world or living realities to appear in our experience. Of course this “lens” can be, and often is, complex and cultivated to process multiple diverse worlds, cultures, ideologies and forms of life. Nevertheless, even in this kaleidoscopic multiplicity of lens power most of us live our lives, both personal and professional, uncritically lodged within the relatively local and “tribal” literacy of our worldview, culture, discipline or ideology practice.

And our evolution of Rationality (mental capacity), Literacy (language capacity) and Global Ontology (entering and negotiating the Primal Source of diverse worlds, the global space across and between widely diverse worlds) makes clear that widely variant cultures or grammars of reality are often worlds apart: what makes sense in one world often fails to make sense in another. Our diverse worldviews, lifeworlds, cultures, religions, ideologies, conceptual paradigms… appear to be incommensurable and deeply at odds. It is only when we are able in this evolutionary drama to dilate our heartminds and rational lens power into the global rational space between worlds that we are able to make sense of things in this Global Light.

If and when we are able to dilate mindspace (and script power) and get some critical distance from privileging our own deeply entrenched and self privileging mental lens, and dare to cross into this more inclusive global common rational ground between worlds, astounding new findings in our rational capacities, cognitive and literacy powers come to the fore. So let us pause in this highly compressed review to gain a sense of these evolutionary breakthroughs.

Some Astounding Evolutionary Advances

When we stand back from our personal mental “lens” and dilate space into the global rational space across and between worlds, cultures, traditions and ideologies it is immediately striking that our great wisdom traditions across the planet through the ages converge on a consensus that there is and must be a Primal First Force, Field, Energy, Domain, Source… that is ever present and Infinite in scope and power.

The Primary Energy-Field Presides in Every Moment

This Infinite Field of Presence, by whatever primal “name” we may use (Tao, Yahweh, Logos, Aum, Brahman, Buddha Nature or Emptiness, God, Christ, Allah, Energy, the Universe, Reality…) embodies and manifests the Primal Infinite Force/Source. This Presence is “First” (in every sense) and it can only be (must be) Infinite (non-finite), hence, as such, it must be infinitely present, ever presiding and pervading every possibility, every breath…from the micro to the macro dimensions. Reality is thus a Continuum of Infinite Connectivity. We shall see in a moment that this Primal Force constituting The Universe is the generative source of all realities, worlds, phenomena, cultures, disciplines and forms of life. Any credible narrative of our evolutionary journey, indeed, of the evolutionary process of Reality, including the evolution of Reason, Language, Literacy, Consciousness, Cognition and cultural life…must come to terms with this ever-presiding Primal Force. This Infinite Force of Presence is at once the originating Source and the guiding light that moves and presides in all events.

As Consciousness Evolves our Language (Script) Power Co-Evolves

An equally astounding consensus disclosure of global wisdom (First Philosophy) through the ages is that as our Rational capacities evolve and mature our Language power (the voltage of our Literacy and Script power) co-evolve and co-dilate together. Our great traditions of First Philosophy concur that we humans ARE as we Mind: – our living realities (life worlds, cultures, religions, disciplines – are a direct function of how we are using our minds- our “mentation” practices. And the striking finding here is that a dominant evolutionary stage of cultural literacy and mentation practice which we may call “monocentric” or “logocentric” or “egomental” is not evolved sufficiently to adequately encounter the Holistic Force-Field of Reality.

Our great Wisdom (Literacy) traditions have unfolded over the centuries in amazing experimental dramas- virtual experimental laboratories of research and development. For when we stand back and enter this global rational space it is striking that these diverse strands of experimental research gravitate to the consensus finding that our human evolutionary journey is nothing less than a profound dimensional shift from a “monocentric” stage of development to a more mature Holistic and Integral technology of mental processing and literacy (script) power.

Whether we follow the trail from the Judaic Biblical origins, through the innovations of Jesus and trace the remarkable unfolding through the centuries into the emergence of Quaker Wisdom, or follow our classical Greek Logos drama from Socrates (Plato, Aristotle) through the centuries into the 21st Century, or again witness the unfolding of the Vedic (Aum, Yoga, Vedanta) traditions in their unfolding from the Gita through Aurobindo in the 20th Century, or again follow the evolutionary development of Buddha’s breakthrough from Nagarjuna through the amazing unfolding in the emergence of Zen (Japanese Kyoto School) in the 20th Century; or the unfolding of Islam over the centuries through Rumi and Sufi Wisdom; or, again the evolutionary unfolding of discourse of the Tao over the centuries….through these exemplar experimental laboratories of research and inquiry into What-is-First we find the striking disclosure that “monocentric” or egomental mentation and literacy are in some profound sense cut off from significant Encounters of the First Kind.

The enormous consensus weight of our great research and development traditions seen in a Global Light in diverse ways recognize that our egomental stage of evolutionary development, as vital as it may be in our evolutionary journey, cuts us off from authentic encounter of the ever-present Field of Reality, with What-is-First, ever presiding, with Infinite Presence. Indeed, this global wisdom consensus finds that our monocentric (or egomental) stage of evolutionary development- an adolescent stage of rational, consciousness, cognitive and literacy development – is itself a primary cause of wide-ranging human personal and cultural dysfunctions.

By contrast, these great evolving wisdom laboratory journeys focus in diverse ways on prescribing a fundamental dimensional shift in our rational and literacy practices – a vital “upgrade” in our mentation practices that comes with the dilation of our “Word” (Language, Literacy) Power from egomental “word” (rationality, literacy) to Integral (Holistic=Dialogic) Word Power and Rational processing.

This evolutionary shift is seen as all-important in our great Wisdom traditions for our human well being, for our individual and collective flourishing.

Perhaps a distilled simplified way to put this evolutionary shift is: from monocentric or egomental “I===It” literacy to the more developed and potent Holistic “I===Thou” dimension of Integral Literacy in the encounter with What-is-First, the Field of Reality.

What is striking, perhaps tragic, in our human journey through the ages is that despite the urgent call of our Wisdom teachings to “up-script” and advance from “I==It” cultural life and literacy to “I===Thou” dilated (or rationally awakened) Literacy, there nevertheless remains a deeply entrenched tendency to hold on to the pre-mature monocentric, “I===It” stage of rational and cultural literacy, and to “download” or “down-script” the higher Wisdom teachings or Scripts into the primary, dominant, monocentric stage of rational literacy.

This unconscious (pre-conscious, unwitting) self privileging of the “I===It” stage of rational development, literacy and culture making has systematically eclipsed, repressed, deformed or distorted the urgent call across the planet, through the ages, to leave the “monocentric script” and to cross higher into the awakened Rational Light, into the higher power Word Technology, to evolve individually and as a species from the dimension of “monologue” to the Dimension of “Dialogue”. This evolutionary imperative is perhaps the most important factor facing our human condition. Our Welfare, Well Being, Thriving, Cognitive Development…turn on this. Our evolutionary advance in Rational life, (in Moral-Political life, in Cognitive-Scientific life, in Empirical capacities) turns on making this Dimensional shift in our mentation and script technologies.

So why has it been so chronically difficult to make this urgent evolutionary shift in mentation, script and literacy? Why does the “I===It” stage of rational and language development seem to hold us captive and neutralize the powerful “wisdom”, awakening medicine, that has been urgently brought to the people over millennia? Why is it so challenging to make a dimensional shift to the “I===Thou” evolutionary upgrade?

One striking theme that emerges in the Global Light is that the “monocentric” (egomental) stage of rational and literacy development blocks the healthful maturation of our species to a more advanced form of rational intelligence, cultural literacy, moral and spiritual awakening…in the encounter of the Field of Reality. We shall now see that monocentric “rationality” is found to be the very source of widespread ideology and dogma. The monocentric mind (stage of rational life) brings with it cognitive impairment, close-minded “inquiry”, ontological fundamentalism, subjectivism, and is the root of dogmatic and ideological patterns of life, culture and impaired “inquiry”.

For me, this is where I locate the evolutionary significance of Sheldrake’s finding that there is a “science delusion”, that the current dominant culture of “science” is lodged in dogma and ideological mentation. I suggest that the source of these dysfunctions in dominant scientific practices is in the level of monocentric literacy and rationality itself. Indeed, I suggest that any form of cultural life that is dominated by such monocentric (egomental) patterns of “rational” discourse equally suffers from the fore-closure of mind, rationality and inquiry. So it is all-important to find a creative way to bring into the open this vital evolutionary shift from a culture of monologue to a Culture of Dialogue and Holistic Mentation.

Introducing Evolutionary Markers to Bring the Dimensional Shift from /Monologue/ to ((Dialogue)) to the Fore

Lets take a deeper look, then, at this all-important evolutionary shift in rational life from /monologue/ to ((Dialogue)). I suggest that the primary reason for the chronic entrenchment within the “I===It” monologue stage of rational (human) development is the pre-critical conflation and chaotic inter-twining of the two dimensions of Rational (Literacy) development. There is a natural evolutionary “lag” or counter-productive “conservatism” and developmental inertia of the “status quo”. And in my evolutionary journey over decades I found it imperative to “de-conflate” these two stages of rational script (literacy) by introducing “Dimensional Markers” to make explicit the dimensional distinction between these two stages of development, and to clarify their intimate relations.

Our breakthrough in designing and introducing such ((evolutionary markers)) to assist us in clarifying and making explicit this all-important ((dimensional)) shift from /monologue/ to ((Dialogue)) has been developed in great detail and published in diverse contexts over the past two decades. On this occasion I shall present in highly summary form certain highlights of this research finding.